Lamington National Park - Rainforest hike and O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards

Last Friday, March 19th, we went with Mazz and Cat (our Arcadia leaders) to Lamington National Park.
It was about an hour and 1/2 long bus ride south to Canungra Valley. We drove up the mountain through the rainforests on the tiny mountain road. Mazz and Cat took turns driving the buss.
It was such a beautiful ride up!

When we got to the top, there was the O'Reilly's gift shop and packed out backpacks for the 3 hour hike.
We hiked through the trail down the mountain in one straight line. It was drizzling a  little so the trail was very muddy and that's when the leeches come out  :-/ So we had to keep an eye on our sneakers and get them off before they reached our ankles and bit us! They weren't that bad though, they were as tiny as inch worms.
My sneakers got soooo muddy! and one leech followed my roomate home! haha it was grossseee
We saw HUGE trees and so many beautiful trees and weird plants.

There were a lot of birds and we saw a Lamington Spiny Crayfish, or a Blue Mountain Crayfish: found in pools and streams of the subtropical rainforest above an altitude of 450 meters.  (picture below)

When we got to the small waterfall, we stopped and had lunch while we sat on the rocks.  Mazz and Cat brought wraps, hummus, veggies, pesto, and lunch meat to make lunch for everyone. (waterfall picture below)

Then we walked all the way back UP (up hill the whole time and faster) the mountain (1.5 hours each way). It got really nice out by that time and it was quite a work out.
We didn't make it in time to feed the birds, but that's ok. We went straight to the Tree Top Walk: a suspended bridge made from timber and wire rope 24 meters above ground! We were so high up! This was a lot of fun. Then Alicia and I went up the ladder that went even higher - 30 meters off the ground. The ladder was surrounded by a gate in case you fell and the view from the top of the trees was awesome!

Then we walked back to the bus and drove back down the mountain. It was so sunny by this time in the afternoon and the view down the mountain was so nice. On our way down, we saw a little white car had slipped off the road and slid down the mountain a little and hit a tree, but I think the passengers were fine.
At the bottom of the mountain was O'Reilly's - Canungra Valley Vineyards. We stopped and tried some wine and relaxed at the vineyard for a little while.  There were pictures of people's past weddings and it was soo pretty there.   :-)